Overview

The Coalition for Community Schools, housed at the Institute for Educational Leadership, is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K-16, youth development, community planning and development, family support, health and human services, government and philanthropy as well as national, state and local community school networks. Community schools are both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. There are a number of national models and local community school initiatives that share a common set of principles: fostering strong partnerships, sharing accountability for results, setting high expectations, building on the community’s strengths, and embracing diversity and innovative solutions. For more information on community schools, contact us.

Work of the Coalition for Community Schools is made possible through the generous supported of The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, JP Morgan Chase Foundation, The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Stuart Foundation, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and the United Way of The National Capital Area.

José is passionate about putting faith into action, making sure his family feels loved, and developing and mobilizing leaders that will serve our communities devotedly.

José Muñoz became the Director of the Coalition for Community Schools in September of 2017 bringing over 25 years of cross-sector partnership experience for youth, family, and community development across the United States. Before joining IEL, he was the ABC Community School Partnership Executive Director which is a unique cross-sector, joint partnership agreement between Albuquerque Public Schools, the City of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, the United Way of Central New Mexico, and the University of New Mexico. During his time at the ABC Community School Partnership, he tirelessly worked to serve the children in Albuquerque and across New Mexico. Muñoz strategically scaled up community schools from four to 26 in five years by securing over three million dollars by successfully advocating for policy and developing key partnerships for Community Schools with state and local governments, school districts, teachers unions, and local businesses. In 2014, Munoz won the first Community Schools Initiative Leadership Award, and in 2016 hosted histories largest Community Schools National Forum in Albuquerque; mobilizing and preparing over 1,700 leaders on all levels from 44 states and eight countries.

Before ABC Community School Partnership, he served three states, four counties, and nine cities through the Boys & Girls Clubs. Muñoz also developed high quality out of school time activities, by leading gang prevention, intervention, and re-entry programs ultimately earning a national legacy award, and developed full-service Clubs that met the needs of every child and family. He is a founding member of the Southern Nevada Community Gang Task Force and is responsible for establishing a youth ran business. José expanded his service in Bernalillo County, New Mexico as the Coordinator of a national model site for the Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

José is married to the lovely Leslie Muñoz, and they have a blended family of two sons and three daughters. In their free time, the Muñoz's like to serve their community through their church and grow leadership by leading community groups.

Jennifer Masutani joined IEL in August 2014. In this role, she provides logistical and administrative support to the Education Policy Fellowship Program, the Coalition for Community Schools, and the President of IEL. Other responsibilities include assisting with development, board meetings, and other office duties.

Prior to joining IEL, Jenn interned at the GlobalGiving Foundation providing support to nonprofits participating in online fundraising. Responsibilities at GlobalGiving included data analysis, assisting the facilitation of an online fundraising course, and communicating with organizations. She also served as a Jumpstart Corps Member, a program through Americorps, promoting early childhood literacy in Southeast DC.

Jenn graduated from American University with a degree in International Studies, concentrating on International Development and an area focus on Africa. While at American, Jenn studied abroad in Nairobi, Kenya where she learned about sustainable development.

Sharon served as the Assistant Conference Coordinator at the Coalition for Community Schools, an initiative of the Institute for Educational Leadership. In this capacity, she supports the planning and implementation of the Coalition’s signature event, the Community Schools National Forum, which convened over 2,000 stakeholders in Baltimore, Maryland. Sharon strives for a world where all children have the opportunity and resources they need to succeed in education independent of the circumstances they are born into. During her past few years in the District, Sharon has worked toward that vision through implementing a college access program at the Friendship Public Charter School, securing funding and implementing a community gathering for families at DC General Homeless Shelter. Prior to joining IEL, Sharon contributed to policy and research at the 50 State Campaign for Achievement Now, and worked at the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders focusing on strategic engagement and community engagement. Sharon has experience in grassroots organizing for the Ed Markey for U.S. Senate Campaign, and she also provided communications assistance for the Office of U.S. Senator Ed Markey. Sharon earned a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies (Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government) from American University in 2017. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in Public Administration with a concentration in Nonprofit Management and Advocacy from American University’s School of Public Affairs.

Mary Kingston is the Director of Public Policy for the Coalition for Community Schools. In this role she leads the policy and advocacy efforts of the Coalition to promote the community schools approach both on the federal and state levels. Prior to this role, Mary served for 2.5 years as Manager of Government Relations for the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). In this role she represented the NASSP members as an active voice on Capitol Hill at the federal level for the best policies possible for secondary school leaders and school districts across the nation. While at NASSP, Mary also led the lobbying efforts of the nation's largest education coalition, the Committee for Education Funding, in the role of Hill Teams Co-Chair. Mary is a proud alumna of IEL's Education Policy Fellowship Program, class of 2011.

Mary received her Master of Public Policy from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Boston University. Prior to joining the staff at NASSP she began her career teaching middle and high school English for three years in Oakland, CA.

Latraniecesa (LJ) Wilson joined the staff in October of 2016. She serves as the Communications Coordinator for the Coalition for Community Schools. She is passionate about undoing gridlock to improve outcomes for all young people and their families and wants to use her communications background to help tell the world how the Community Schools strategy is helping to build future leaders.

She has worked in the Communications field for over 10 years and has written social media & PR strategies for the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area and DC Autism Parents. She has secured prime time coverage and helped build brands for startup businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Prior to arriving at the Coalition for Community Schools LJ worked as a Communications Manager for the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce, where she developed and implemented social media and communication strategies for Northern Virginia Restaurant Week. She is also responsible for coordinating the Reston Chamber re-branding and website redesign process. Her ability to create strategic press releases helped to triple the amount of media coverage and develop invaluable relationships with members of the media.

She is a former C-SPAN Producer and before that she worked for CNN and the local news industry. Her work at CNN earned her a Peabody Award for the 2005 coverage of Hurricane Katrina and a DuPont award for 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in South East Asia.

She graduated from Kent State University with an MA in Mass Communications, focusing on Public Relations Management. For undergrad, she attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio; where she received her Bachelors of Science in Mass Communication. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.

Prior to joining Institute for Educational Leadership as the Partnerships Manager for the Coalition of Community Schools, Bernice was a senior associate at the Data Quality Campaign. She aided DQC in the alignment of local, state, and federal policy recommendations, which provided education leaders with the information they needed to support students and families in every community. She analyzed emerging policies and practices, convened national thought leaders, and worked with partner organizations to aid local and district leaders in using evidence to improve student outcomes.

Her previous experience includes service as the program director of the Memphis Talent Dividend and Graduate Memphis, two action initiatives of Leadership Memphis. While there, she managed a community collaborative with over 80 partners to execute city-wide education initiatives.

Bernice began her career in Washington DC as a Capital City Fellow. She completed rotations with Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, Department of Housing and Community Development, Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. In 2010, Bernice accepted a position as an Administrative Budget Manager and Grant Coordinator of the City of Saginaw, Michigan. In this capacity, she managed the city’s Performance Management program and CitiStat initiative and managed budget functions for four departments (Fiscal Services, Technical Services, Public Works, and Economic Development). In 2012 Bernice was selected as a White House Strong Cities, Strong Communities Fellow. In this capacity she worked as an advisor to the mayor of Memphis and City Administrator focused on evaluating government operations and helping build a performance management system consisting of key performance indicators, ChoiceStat, and a digital data warehouse.

Born and raised in Georgia, Bernice earned a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State University in psychology with a minor in political science. She earned a master’s in public administration, with a concentration on local government management, from the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs. She has served on the Georgia Supreme Court Committee on Justice for Children (2007–08) and Georgia’s Children and Youth Coordinating Council (2005–08). Bernice is also 2016 graduate of the Institute for Educational Leadership’s DC Education Policy Fellowship Program.